PHOTOS: Demolition begins at Southgate Mall

The shell of the former Saks Fifth Avenue department store in Westfield Group’s Southgate Mall is being demolished this week to make room for a Cobb Cinebistro movie theater.

Sarasota-based Graber Excavators began breaking down the department store earlier this week, which has been empty since October when the retailer abandoned the 40,000-square-foot space for a brand new two-story store at the Mall at University Town Center.

The demolition, which is expected to last through the weekend, is the first step toward building a 7-screen Cobb Cinebistro, an upscale movie theater and restaurant chain that will replace the anchor space at the Westfield Group mall. The movie theater is expected to open by the end of the year.

Westfield announced in 2013 that Southgate would be remodeled into an outdoor dining, shopping and entertainment space. In addition to new fixtures and overall décor, the mall will add 46,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, taken from its parking lot facing Tamiami Trail, to create an outdoor “street-like” feel, with stone-cobbled walkways and open-area, covered paths.

Photos by Nick Adams, Herald-Tribune staff

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